Safety catch



y .19, 1938'. F. A. BALLQU, JR 2,123,985

SAFETY CATCH Filed Dec. 6, 1935 INVENTO A TTORNEYS.

Patented July 19, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v SAFETY CATCH tionof Rhode Island Application December 6, 1935, Serial No. 53,176

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a safety catch, and has for one of its objectsthe provision of a catch which may be more easily operated by the fingerof the user.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a catch which may berolled around by the flesh of the finger instead of by means of thefinger nail of the user.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means by which therotor member of the catch will be less likely than heretofore to be heldby solder which is used to attach the body portion of the catch to asupport.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a rotor member whichwill be of less material without weakening the same at any vital points,whereby a saving of precious metal may be had.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, as will be more fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is an end view of the safety catch with the rotor member inpartially closed position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the rotor member looking at the catchin the same direction as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an end view of the rotor member with a slightly modifiedfinger piece engaging portion.

It is customary when purchasing safety catches for the purchaser tospecify the amount of clearance which he desired between the soldersurface and the point of the rotor or part which rotates in the devicewhich is nearest to the soldered surface at the time of soldering. It iswell-known in the art that in the practical construction and operationof safety catches it is desirable to have the pin stem as close to thesolder surface as is practical, and yet the neck portion between thebase and the ears must be long enough so as to space the nearest pointof the rotor a distance from the soldered surface sufficient so that thesolder will not run into it. Heretofore, when attaching the previouscatches to various articles, if the solder was found to run up into thedevice so as to cause the rotor to become attached and prevent itsrotation, the catches would be rejected by the trade and returned inexchange for those having greater clearance; and in order to obviatesuch empirical practice, I have found it to be of advantage to provide acatch member having a base presenting a surface for attachment to anarticle by means of solder, and another surface generally parallel tothe front surface and spaced therefrom with a generally circular rotormember pivotally supported above the base and having an edge swingableclose to the said second surface in which the ends of said arc are Ijoined by an edge of a shorter radial extent from said pivot axis thanthe remainder of the edge whereby a certain relative position of saidmembers will provide a substantial space between the nearest portion ofthe rotor member and the said second surface so that any film of solderover the second surface will not be elevated sufficiently to obstructthe pivotal relation of said members or cause the rotor to becomeattached to prevent its rotary action; and I have also provided a more.5

where such catches are formed of solid gold; and the following is a moredetailed description of the present embodiment of this invention,illustrating the preferred means by which these disadvantageous resultsmay be accomplished:

With reference to the drawing, designates the supporting structure towhich the safety catch is attached, such for instance as a bar pin orsome like structure. The base of the safety catch I l is attached to thesupport Ill by solder I2. The body portion of the safety catch comprisesthe base I with upstanding ears l3 and I4 usually integral with the baseand folded therefrom, and there exists between the ears a portionforming the upper surface l5 of the base H. A rotor member [6 is mountedin bearings in the ears l3 and M by reason of its trunnion portions I!and 18 extending into recesses in these cars l9 and 20, while the maindisk portion 2| of the rotor operates in the space 32 between the ears[3 and I4 and comes in close proximity to the surface i5 on the top ofthe base. A handle portion 23 extends upwardly from the disk portion 2|and is provided on its engaging surface with a plurality of projections24 as shown in Fig. 2 or the surface of this handle may consist of aplurality of projections 25 and 26 as shown in Fig. 4 with deeperinwardly extending recesses between them, the handle portion being suchthat the plurality of projections present an extended frictionalengaging surface to the flesh of the finger so that the finger may bepressed more or less flatly against this handle portion and then bymovement in either direction will serve to roll the effecting a materialsaving in precious metal 121 rotor member of the safety catch in itsbearings to or from closed or open position.

The handle in projecting from the disk portion 2| presents abutmentsurfaces 29 which will alternately engage the edge of the base in thedifferent positions of said disk to limit the movement of the rotormember so that the slot in the rotor will register with the slots in theears in one certain position and will limit them to a position out ofsuch alignment or a locking position when rotated to its extreme limitin the opposite direction.

When soldering the safety catch in position it is usual that the handleor turning portion such as 23 be positioned vertically upwardly such asshown in the figures of the drawing so that this handle portion will bespaced from the base and there will be less likelihood of solder fluxcausing an adherence of solder between the finger portion and the baseshould the two be in contact; and in order to further avoid anylikelihood of solder tacking the lower portion of the rotor to the baseby reason of some stray solder flux engaging the same which on meltingquickly flows between two closely adjacent portions which are just outof contact, I cut off a portion of the rotor member as at 30 or soreduce the dimension of the stock as to provide a fiat surface oppositethe handle 23. Thus, when this handle is in the position illustrated inthe drawing, this flat surface will provide a wide clearance spacebetween the rotor member and the base and prevent the flow of solderflux and solder following the same into the joint to tack the twotogether as sometimes accidentally happens when no such large space isprovided; and in this manner I am enabled to obtain less rejects aftersoldering and yet a catch which is very easily operated without thenecessity of definite engagement by the finger nail.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the constructionillustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve theprivilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the deviceis susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by theterms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a safety catch, a member having a base presenting a surface forattachment to an article by means of solder and presenting, a secondsurface generally parallel to the front surface and spaced therefrom, asupport for a rotor member extending from said base, a generallycircular rotor member pivotally mounted on said support and having anarcuate edge along the major portion of its periphery with the pivotaxis of the rotor as its center, said edge being swingable close to saidsecond surface and said member having the ends of said arc joined by anedge of a shorter radial extent from said pivot axis than the saidremainder of the edge whereby a certain relative position of saidmembers provides a substantial space between the nearest portionof therotor member and said second surface.

2. In combination with an ornamental support, a safety catch, a memberhaving a base with a surface soldered to said article and presenting asecond surface'generally parallel to the first surface and spacedtherefrom, a support for a rotor member extending from said base, agenerally circular rotor member pivotally mounted on said support andhaving an arcuate edge along the major portion of its periphery with thepivot axis of the rotor as its center, said edge being swingable closeto said second surface and said member having the ends of said arcjoined by an edge of a shorter radial extent from said pivot axis thanthe remainder of the edge whereby a certain relative position of saidmembers provides a substantial space between the nearest portion of therotor member and said second surface, and a film of solder over thesecond surface insufficient to obstruct the pivotal working relation ofsaid members.

FREDERICK A. BALLOU. JR.

